I’m in love – I don’t care who knows it – I’M IN LOVE! We’ve all heard of love at first sight, right? “Like, oh my gosh, I just saw the man of my dreams and as soon as we made eye contact I knew he was the one!” Blah, blah, blah. Doesn’t mean we all believe in it, but we’ve heard of it. Well, have you ever heard of falling in love at first site with a city? I’m sure you have and I’m sure if you’ve ever traveled you believe in this more than the first kind of love mentioned. Well, are you ready to find out who my long, lost lover is? You better Belize it – it’s San Pedro, Belize.

If you’ve never heard of San Pedro, Belize, buckle up because you’re ‘bout to learn something today! San Pedro is a tiny town located on a tiny Island called Ambergris Cay. When I said tiny, I wasn’t kidding – the entire island is 25 miles long and only about a mile wide with a population of 13,000 friendly people. As you can imagine, getting to San Pedro was quite the task. We had to take two flights just to get to Belize, and then a 3rd to get to the island. But let me tell you, every second is worth it. Check out the views from the last airplane!!

Hi everyone – long time, no talk. Literally. My bad on that one, folks. Some of you may not be aware, but I just underwent a 2 month hiatus from blogging. It wasn’t necessarily planned, but it happened. And to be honest, I’m pretty upset with myself for letting it happen.

I set a goal to post at least 4 times a month to and I let myself down.

Many people asked me about my blog – “Why haven’t I seen a post from you in a while?”

Well dang, Betty! Why are you paying attention so closely?Just kidding, it meant A LOT to me that people were actually missing some of my posts. So thank you, “Betty”!

So, to answer the question – where has The Welcome Woman been and why haven’t I posted?

Life. Life is why.

The right time to pay attention to what’s going on in your neighborhood, city, state, country and world is NOW. No matter who you are, where you are, or how old you are – you need to start paying attention to what’s really happening in the world. But let’s be honest, being up to date on ALL current events is extremely difficult, even when we have constant news updates at the touch of our fingers, 24/7 – so why is it so difficult? Here are a few reasons:

Not paying attention

We don’t care enough to read / listen

There are a million other “messages” flooding our eyes and ears – we’re multitasking and missing the things that can/should be important

We’re not using the right tools

With tensions as high as they are in the world (ISIS, Brexit, Syrian Civil War, Refugees, Islamaphobia, Starvation/failing economy in Venezuela, Nuclear threats from North Korea, etc.), and in America itself (mysoginist/racist/zenophobic/greedy president, fight for equality in race/gender/sexual orientation/etc., healthcare uncertainty, etc.), it’s pertinent we’re aware of as many facts and opinions (even those opinions from the opposing side from where you stand) as possible.

HIIIIII and HAPPY MONDAY!! I hope everyone is having a great start to their week, I sure am! Today, I woke up early, did a little bit of yoga, showered, actually got ready for work and treated myself to a dirty chai – – OH MY!!! If the rest of my week goes like this, I’m going to be one happy lady! Any way, let’s get to the point: What’s Up, Welcome Woman?!

Thanks to YouTube and friendly brands that offer all-in-one palettes, we all have the ability to be makeup artists. But, just because the tools are out there, means diddly squat to people like me – the people that are makeup illiterate. Yes, that’s a real thing. I like to describe makeup illiterate by giving sample questions of what a “makeup illiterate” person may ask….

Why do you have ten different brushes in your makeup bag?

My face is one color, why do I need 10 different shades?

What is primer? I’m not a wall, I don’t need two coats of paint.

Can you please apply my eyeliner?

How the hell do you do a smokey eye – I just look like I got punched in the face!

If you know me, you know I am absolutely terrified, and somewhat grossed out, by babies. The entire process of having a child just sounds like my worst nightmare – an alien growing inside me, eating things I eat, pooping/peeing inside me, giving me uncontrollable mood swings, and the WORST part, the “alien” would have to come out of my vagina. Oh. Hell. No! Not to mention, after my body has been completely used and abused, I lose sleep and completely revolve my life around a tiny thing that cries and poos.

Are you ready for the cliche “holy crap, I’m turning 25 and about to have a quarter-life crisis” post? If so, that’s too dang bad – you’re not going to find that here! To be honest, I had that feeling about two months ago and I told myself to not let it happen here. Tomorrow, on March 25th, I will be turning 25 – the big ol’ GOLDEN birthday! Woot! Woot!

Now that I’m almost 25, I feel a little ridiculous receiving physical gifts from people; I have everything I need, and the things I want I try to earn/get for myself. For this year’s birthday gifts, I decided to celebrate by asking some of my favorite “old” people advice about what they wish they knew at 25 years old. Because honestly, that IS what I need and the ONLY thing I want (to know)...

Growing up, I’ve always thought of myself as a selfish person. I was, and still am, surrounded by some of the most giving people to ever grace the Earth with their presence – My mother and my grandmother, being the most prevalent. They are the definition of self-less. They will drop anything and everything to help someone in need; whether that be a family member, friend or stranger. Not only are they willing to drop anything and everything, they do so without even flinching. Without wondering how it may affect themselves or their day.

Me, on the otherhand, I’d take a couple seconds to regroup my thoughts – “How will this affect me? Can I even help? Am I the right person to help?”. When its all said and done, yes, I always (well, more often than not), will help anyone that may need it. I just never did it as gracefully as my mom and grandma, who – let’s face it – are the gold standard of selflessness. Which then lead me to believe I was a selfish person.

WASSSUPPP friends! This may be out of laziness or maybe I just think it’s a fun idea; moving forward, each month I am going to post a “What’s Up, Welcome Woman?” (WUWW) post. The series will be short, random, and easy going! This will help you get to know a little bit more about me and what’s going on in my life…which is sometimes boring, and sometimes TOO exciting. But one thing I’ve learned recently, is that we have to embrace those boring, almost seemingly pointless moments in our life, as well as the thrilling, jump up and down moments – because they all add up to make the person you are!

Not going to lie, I’m struggling in the brainstorming process of how to introduce this “How To” post because all I can think about is the movie How To Lose a Guy in 10 Days, and how badly I want to be “Andie Anderson” and date Matthew McConaughey. I mean seriously, who wouldn’t want to be a journalist in NYC and date that beautiful man? Alright, alright, alright! Anyway, I digress. Today we’re going to talk about “How to be a good roommate” and how fortunate I have been to have the best ones EVER!

I decided to write this post, not because I think I am a good roommate, but because I have lived with people that are pretty much the epitome of a PERFECT roommate.